Author Archives: lifewithlilred

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About lifewithlilred

Just your average gal blogging an average blog!

The Secrets To A Thinner Face

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The Secrets To A Thinner Face

It’s a sad fact, but even with rigorous training and exercise, it’s hard to get rid of facial fat. You might have observed that some people, even though a lot bigger than you, have leaner facial features than you do. However, this does not mean that you are overweight at all.

There are actually two reasons why faces appear fuller: one is a high body fat percentage and two is genetics. The first reason is pretty much obvious. As we all know, body fat does not just get stored in the belly area. Some of it goes to the arms, legs, thighs, and for others, the face.

On that note, people with subtle facial features are most likely to have faces appear rounder. This doesn’t mean, however, that you have a concentrated amount of body fat that’s too high to lose. Sometimes, it just means that your facial features are too subtle and it’s easier for body fat to mask it; hence, the formation of double chins and rounded cheeks. For these kinds of people, a thinner face can be achieved by reducing body fat percentage to 10% to 15%.

The second reason, however, does not have anything to do with body fat and how much you exercise. Often, having a round face results from your genes, especially if it is pretty dominant in your family’s genetic structure. Nevertheless, a thinner face can be achieved through various means. For some, they opt for clinical solutions like RF face slimming in the Philippines. But for others, they simply stick to traditional ways of reducing facial fat like some of the following:

Facial Exercises:

You read that right. There is actually an exercise routine for your face. Usually, this is done to improve facial features and enhance muscles in the face. This involves stimulating facial expressions, such as holding a smile and clenching your teeth for several seconds. Massaging your cheeks and jaws are good ways to do this, as well.

While there are a few studies that prove the effectiveness of facial exercises, most of them show that regular routines can do wonders for your face, such as facial skin tightening and rejuvenating. Some reports also show that these exercises help in strengthening the muscles of the face.

Body Weight Exercises:

There is no denying that cardio can help burn body fat fast. However, achieving a thinner face involves more than just jogs, treadmill time, and cardio activities. In order to successfully reduce fats and become lean, it’s best to incorporate body weight exercises in your routine. This means that you will have to opt for exercises that help build and strengthen muscles like yoga and Pilates.

If you’re unable to throw these exercises in your hectic schedule, you can also opt for compound exercises such as squats, bench presses, and weight lifts. Fret not, though. You won’t have to quickly jump into lifting heavy weights to achieve desired results. After all, consistency is more important.

Getting rid of facial fats can be hard. But with lots of extra effort and a little bit of patience, no kind of fat cannot be shed!

How To Keep Mosquitoes Away This Summer

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How To Keep Mosquitoes Away This Summer

Mosquitoes are a nuisance, especially for their whining buzzes and itchy bites during the night. They are also vectors of many diseases, from malaria and yellow fever to zika virus and dengue fever. While it might not be possible to keep mosquitoes away completely, there are a few things that can help you to reduce their numbers. Here are some of the ways you can reduce mosquitoes in your home:

Use natural mosquito repellents:

Mosquitoes have a very sharp sense of smell, which makes them locate human beings with ease. Human beings emit carbon dioxide and other odors that these annoying pests find irresistible. In the same way, there are certain scents that mosquitoes find unappealing. These scents can be used to keep mosquitoes away. Here are some oil scents that can keep the bugs at bay:

  • Peppermint oil
  • Citronella oil
  • Eucalyptus oil

Get rid of stagnant water near your home:

Mosquitoes thrive well in stagnant water by breeding in there to large populations. They will eventually find their way inside your house. You can avoid this by emptying water around your house from containers lying around, garbage bin lids, and flower pots. This will destroy their breeding grounds and significantly reduce their population around your house.

Get a mosquito lamp:

Most people have front and back door lights. These lights attract all kinds of insects, mosquitoes included. They will hang around your door area, ready to rush as soon as you open it. To prevent this, always have a mosquito lamp on your front door which emits a repellent to keep the mosquitoes away.

Keep grass trimmed:

Mosquitoes find overgrown shrubs, weeds, and grass an attractive place to hide during the day. They are usually active at night and will spend most of their day resting in these areas. Keep grass near your house trimmed to avoid giving the pests an extra place to hide.

Set up mosquito traps:

Mosquito traps can be used to keep mosquitoes away when placed on your porch. Make sure that you change the traps regularly to help them remain effective in reducing their population levels.

Make your home Mosquito free:

It is important that you adopt a long term solution to prevent mosquitoes from entering your home. Reduce the breeding grounds around your house and combine the above strategies to help reduce the population of mosquitoes around your home!

Four Fantastic Reasons To Take Up Crafting

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Four Fantastic Reasons To Take Up Crafting

If you’re in the market for a relaxing activity that promises endless hours of fun and satisfaction, you should definitely consider crafting. Why? If the four reasons below don’t convince you, trying your hand at something crafty certainly will. Next time you’ve got some time on your hands, do yourself a favor and give crafting a try:

Curiosity:

One thing that defines all crafty folk is curiosity. You get a kick out of working out how to go about creating something out of its component parts, and it’s not just the intellectual knowledge you hunger for, but the experience. If you’re naturally curious, crafting offers endless opportunities to discover new processes, get your head around intricate designs, and get to grips with different materials. Whether you’re into embroidery or woodwork, once you get started, you’ll discover an endless world of complexity to uncover for yourself.

Be a Gifting Goddess:

Everyone has that friend who reliably produces the most jaw-dropping gifts, which they then reveal were made by hand! With a little crafting expertise, you can be a gifting goddess too. No matter what area of crafting you’re into, chances are you’ll be able to whip up a gift for someone special. If you’re into knitting, woolen gifts always go down as a treat (even the once cringe-worthy Christmas jumper is having a revival these days!). Or, if you’re a baker or cook, why not gift a batch of homemade cookies or a tasty jar of preserves? If you’re new to your craft and are not quite up for full-on gift production, consider other crafty ways to personalize your shop-bought gifts. You could make your own cards, or invest in a punch board and create your own personalized gift bags.

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Photo by Kaboompics .com from Pexels

Crafters Are Forever Young:

Who says old dogs can’t learn new tricks? Research has consistently demonstrated that taking up new habits can have a positive impact on the sharpness and adaptability of your mind. Learning new things creates brand-new neural pathways, which work against the natural deterioration of the brain that comes with age. While it doesn’t matter what new things you do, crafts are a great choice because you’re unlikely to get bored with an endless array of new techniques and skills waiting to be mastered.

New Communities:

While crafting can be a rewarding solitary activity, crafters should be aware of the danger of becoming reclusive. If you’re looking for ways to get out there more, getting into a new craft will open up new worlds for you, socially. Learning from others is the best excuse to meet people, and a quick glance online will give you a sense of the local crafting communities available. Even if there are no craft events coming up, you’ll find a thriving online community sharing tips and inspiration, so there’s no need to feel alone. Crafters can be a shy tribe but remember: there are no strangers out there… only friends you haven’t met yet.

Whatever your reasons for taking up crafting, don’t forget the most important benefit of all: crafting simply makes you feel good! Who cares how good your results are. What matters is that you’re enjoying yourself. 🙂

Featured Image By: Jasmin Schreiber on Unsplash

Spectacular Sunset

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Spectacular Sunset

Hello! There is nothing more beautiful than an amazing sunrise or sunset and during the summer time, both are absolutely spectacular in my neck of the woods. While driving home from work last week, I got to bear witness to this beauty below and it was too lovely to not snap a pic! Take a look:

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The sky seriously looked like ice cream sherbet and I just wanted to dive in and eat it up! The deep purple mixed with the light orange was such a stunning combination and it really helped end a great day at work. This also happened to be the day before my birthday and all of my clients helped to make sure I had a very special one. And, it seemed like planet Earth was doing the same thing by giving me a gorgeous sunset to cap off the day and kick off twenty-five!

What is your favorite color? Do you prefer sunrises or sunsets? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Bath Bomb Blitz: Unknown From Lush Edition

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Bath Bomb Blitz: Unknown From Lush Edition

Howdy! I have made many wonderful friends thanks to lifewithlilred but there’s one lovely lady who holds a very special place in my heart and that’s Kate from Live In The Nautical. A fiery, intelligent beauty with a passion for travel and style, Kate is literally the coolest and it has been such a joy to be her friend. No matter if we talk every day or if it’s been a month, we always seem to pick up right where we left off, which I think is a major testament to our friendship.

Everything about Kate is amazing but her thoughtfulness is what I love the most about her. It always seems like she just knows when I need a little pick me up. For example, when I was in absolute agony from my surgery in December, I receive a Christmas present from her in the mail. And, recently, when we were very close to putting our dog down, a birthday prezzie from my Gemini Twin shows up. Talk about blogging BFF telepathy!

Kate knows that goodies from Lush are the way to my heart and I always feel so spoiled when I get to enjoy a bath bomb from there because I don’t use their products often at all. Recently, I used the little number seen below who’s name I am not sure of because it wasn’t on the website. So, we’ll just go with “Unknown” for now, lol. Check it out:

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Aside from my bath tub at my apartment having a mind of its own and draining whenever it feels like, Unknown was a very pleasant bath bomb experience. It didn’t have much of a smell but it put on a jolly good show of shamrock green and white spirals. It also took a long time to fizz out – at least five minutes, which is always a plus.

When Unknown first started fizzing, I thought it was going to be a jelly bomb because of the thicker green bubble stuff happening. But, that wasn’t the case, which was a little disappointing because I do love me a good jelly bomb. Despite that, I still felt insanely hydrated upon exiting the tub once I finished shaving and I think that’s my favorite part. I always put lotion on post shave but I probably don’t even need to when using the ultra moisturizing Lush bath bombs!

Overall, I’d rate Unknown with a five out of ten. It wasn’t my favorite but it certainly wasn’t the worst, either, and I wouldn’t be mad about using it again.

What is your favorite Lush product? Who is your blogging BFF? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

TJMaxx Beauty Haul

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TJMaxx Beauty Haul

Hiii! When I need a reup on my beauty and skin care supplies, I hit up TJMaxx, rinse, and repeat. Their beauty aisle is chock full of good stuff where I have discovered my favorites from The Body Shop as well as trying out new brands that I usually end up loving. Thanks to rewards points from the TJMaxx/Homegoods/Marshall’s credit card, I had twenty bucks to spend to stock up and got all of the following products FO FREE. Check it out:

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The Haul:

I was super happy with the haul seen above because I got products that I needed, like a new charcoal bar and scrub. But, I also got to add to my supplies when it comes to serum and moisturizer so it was a very successful shopping trip overall. What I am most excited about, though, is the Azure Lux Rose Gold serum, which I love so very very much. After using this wonder serum up in February, I vowed to purchase it again if I ever came across it. So, I was thrilled to make good on my word because that serum really is the best and leaves your skin simply glowing.

I am looking forward to trying out my new scrub come my next shaving sesh, because the Lavender Coconut scent is divine and I have also never tried a coffee scrub before! The value of this bottle was great, too, because it’s huge and I got it for a whole six bucks. And, in the beauty world, all I am hearing about is all Manuka honey everything so I’m definitely eager to give my new moisturizer a try after I finish up my current jar. Thank you, TJMaxx! 😀

Where do you get all of your beauty and skin care products at? How do you shop beauty on a budget? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Summer Makeup: Application Tips For Extreme Heat

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Summer Makeup: Application Tips For Extreme Heat

Hello everyone and welcome to a very special guest post from my friend, Kiki, over at From Vanity To Sanity. Today, Kiki is going to share with us some makeup tips for the hot hot heat, which she knows all about as she lives in Cyprus. But, we can certainly all benefit from it with summer weather officially upon us! And, when you’re done, please make sure to give Kiki’s page some love – I’m sure you’ll all adore it as much as I do. Enjoy!

Summer Makeup: Application Tips For Extreme Heat

Ever since returning to my country, Cyprus, from rainy Manchester in the UK in the peak of summer (end of July) in 2017, I’ve been thinking of writing a blog post about the difficulties of applying makeup in hot weather as this is a daily struggle for me. I never had such issues when I lived in the UK or even when I lived in Greece.

For those not familiar with Cyprus, the small European country in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, summers here are hot and humid with temperatures rising well above 44 degrees Celsius usually in July and August. But, with climate change, recent years are seeing a bigger and bigger extension of these heatwaves in Cyprus with summer weather lasting from the beginning of May to the end of October. Just this year we had a 42+ degrees Celsius day in May! I don’t even dare think what the rest of the summer will be like.

So, when Sarah of lifewithlilred gave a shout out for a collaboration with anyone wanting to write about a summer topic as a guest on her blog, I thought this is it, I HAVE to finally write this post because who likes dripping makeup, right?

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Wearing makeup for me is very important. Unless I’m going swimming (And, even when I go to the beach, I usually put on an under-eye concealer and tinted sunscreen for minimum coverage.) I like to look good wherever I go. No longer a spring chicken, this unfortunately for me means not just wearing a nice lipstick to brighten up my face. (Oh! To be young again, able to get away with bare skin and just a bright colored lipstick!). I now need the full works: foundation, concealer, mascara, lipstick, and blusher. But, if you’re a makeup addict like me, then you know those products make the bare minimum of a made-up look.

“But heat and humidity are makeup’s enemies. So, what are makeup’s friends in hot weather then? In my case, it’s tissues, sunscreen, face powder, setting spray, blotting paper, and the coolness from a powerful air-conditioner. Without them, applying makeup in extreme hot weather would just be impossible”

First things first, to be able to even start the process of applying makeup in a hot and humid environment, I personally need to be in a cool place. So, I make sure to have the aircon on full blast before I sit in front of my vanity mirror. Then, I dry my face to avoid any wetness from the humid climate using tissue paper and I’m set to go with the following products in step order:

  • Under-eye concealer: As I’ve always had dark circles under my eyes this is an absolute must for me and it’s always my first step.
  • Sunscreen: If I’m not going for a heavy made-up look, I’ll use a 50+ SPF tinted one and skip the foundation. Two good tinted options of mine are LA ROCHE-POSAY’s ANTHELIOS XL and SUN SENSE. I make sure to cover my face well with the sunscreen, especially the bridge of my nose and cheeks which are my features that get the most sun exposure and are prone to sun damage.
  • Foundation: If I’m going for full coverage, then I’ll use a non-tinted sunscreen in the previous step followed by a good foundation. An all-time favorite of mine is the Estee Lauder Double Wear foundation but I recently discovered a good alternative from SHISEIDO, the UV Protective Stick Foundation with 30 SPF. As it’s in stick form it’s very easy to apply and doesn’t need particular blending.
  • Powder: Preferably in loose form, face powder is essential in setting the creamy products applied to the face before potentially adding any others such as blusher, eyeshadow, brow liner, mascara, and lipstick.
  • Setting spray: This is the last step in ensuring the look stays intact. By spraying the face from a distance of about 25 cms you help everything stay put and not melt away when the temperature rises.
  • Blotting paper: Essential to blot out sweat throughout the day and/or night, this product is handy to be kept in your handbag to avoid looking oily when the temperature and, more importantly, the humidity levels rise.

Today, following the above steps but also adding mascara, bronzer, and lip-gloss I created this everyday, natural look (the frizzy stray hairs are testament to the humidity):

Here’s a snapshot of the products I used:

I’d be interested to hear of any other tips for applying and maintaining makeup in extremely hot weather as, frankly, I am finding it a challenge!

Thank you so much again to Kiki for treating us to a guest post here on lifewithlilred! What are your summer time makeup tips? How do you stay cool in the warm weather? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Happy 25th Birthday To Me!

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Happy 25th Birthday To Me!

Hello everyone and HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!! Today, I turn the ripe old age of twenty-five and can you say hello midlife crisis?! Lol, nah, crisis mode won’t kick in until twenty-six so I have one more year of turning up to do. In all seriousness, it is an exciting time to be a Lil Red. I got my first apartment less than two months ago, my businesses are booming, and lifewithlilred will have been a thing for FIVE YEARS come September. Wow!

Although twenty-four had a lot of moments that were about a bitch from two of the dumbest relationships that I’ve ever been in to a month and a half of misery from a surgery gone wrong, it ended strong. And, for that, I am definitely grateful. I am looking forward to what twenty-five has in store for me but, I’d be a liar if I said I wasn’t wishing that time would slow down just a little bit! We all know that that isn’t going to happen, though, so here’s to enjoying another year here on planet Earth. 😀

Happy Birthday To Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee! ❤

New Black & Emerald Nails

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New Black & Emerald Nails

Helloooooooo! Last weekend, I spend a wonderful Saturday morning getting pampered at Elysian Nails for a much needed fill and cut down. My work week was long and stressful so it was so nice to sink into a chair and relax for an hour and a half while my talons got loved on. And, I know I said that I was going to stray away from black nails, but I just couldn’t help resorting back to Old Faithful this time around. Take a look:

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While looking through Elysian Nails’ extensive polish collection, the emerald glitter and black combination just spoke to me. It screamed Slytherin from Harry Potter and I was feeling like a badass and couldn’t say no! The daggers also needed shortened as they were getting much too long, even for me, and the lovely young lady named Mary who pampered me did a bang up job.

When it comes to getting my nails done, I could go either way when it comes to chatting with the nail tech. But, Mary was so bubbly and delightful that it was impossible to not chit chat with her for most of the time. She also worked right next to her sister and their little sibling rivalry and quips was so adorable! It made for an insanely pleasant morning and it left me feeling so much better after a difficult week. 🙂

What color of nail polish do you have on? Do you chat or keep it quiet with your nail tech? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah

Liebster Award #19

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Liebster Award #19

Hiii! This past week, lifewithlilred was nominated for its nineteenth Liebster Award by my darling friend, Carlie, over at Carlie’s Art World. Carlie is an absolute doll and one of my dearest blogging friends and I cannot recommend her page enough. Her artwork and OOTDs are amazing and I know all of you will love it just as much as I do! Now, let’s get on to the rules for this award:

The Rules:

  • Thank the blogger who nominated you.
  •  Display your award.
  •  Answer the questions you were asked by the blogger who nominated you.
  •  Nominate 5 other bloggers.
  •  Ask 6 new questions for your nominees to answer.
  •  Let your nominees know they were nominated and give them a link to your post.

Q & A:

What made you want to start a blog?

I honestly didn’t even want to start a blog but so many people told me that they loved my style and that I’m funny and if I started a blog that they would read it. So, when I began college, I started my page and I was hooked! And, I still am almost five years later.

What is your favorite horror movie? 

The original Texas Chainsaw Massacre and I love the French film Ils.

Do you have any pets?

I, sadly, do not have any pets at my apartment. But, I have two beloved rescue pups at my family home, Gem and Ollie. Both of them are actually quite sick right now so please send some love their way!

Do you collect anything? If so, what do you collect?

Shoes, shoes, shoes, purses, jewelry, clothing, shoes.

What’s your favorite place to vacation?

Asheville, North Carolina.

If you could live anywhere, where would you be?

Paris! I speak French, so hopefully I would fit right in!

My Nominees (I’m only doing three):

My Questions For You:

  1. What is your favorite thing to do in the summer?
  2. Are you going on any summer vacations?
  3. How do you stay cool in the warm weather?
  4. What is your favorite Popsicle flavor?
  5. What was the last movie you saw in theaters?
  6. What is one of your goals for the rest of 2019?

How would you answer some of Carlie’s questions for her nominees? How about some of my questions for mine? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah